To think a 101 year old should not wait on the floor for an ambulance for 2 hours

[ScottishG]

My lovely grandfather, aged 101 had a fall in the early hours of this morning. He has a care alarm which he pressed. My parents, who usually help him out we're away, so a neighbour was contacted by the careline. She went to his house and found him on the floor, cold and a bit confused but otherwise seemingly ok. Careline caller advised that grandfather should be kept still on the floor and neighbour should not attempt to get him up. Careline called for an ambulance. TWO HOURS later paramedics arrived. He was given a thorough check, helped up and settled back into bed. Paramedics are very apologetic about the wait.
I am not in any way complaining about the kind, professional paramedics who helped him.
AIBU though to think a 101 year old on the floor should not be such a low priority that he has to wait for 2 hours?

I understand that others have more life threatening injuries/illnesses. Still doesn't make it feel ok that the help just wasn't there though. What makes it feel worse is that the paramedics admitted they had been seeing to an intoxicated 21 year old.
Fucksgiven - thank you for your very useful suggestion that I help look after my grandfather. I live 3 hours away, have a full time job and a family. I see him regularly and travelled to be with him today as soon as I was made aware of what had happened.
Thanks to everyone who asked how he is. I spent today at his cottage and he is doing ok. He has a nasty cold and is a bit shaken but otherwise seems alright. I'm staying until my parents are back on Tuesday. Fortunately work are understanding in these sort of circumstances. Had a lovely evening with him hearing about his WW2 adventures. He is an amazing man and I adore him, as do my 2 dcs

Target time around here is 4 hours. Plenty long enough to be sore and achy from lying in one position and probably lying in piss :(

Most ambulance callouts are to get old people back into their chairs or bed. It's not a medical emergency, which is what the ambulance service is meant to be dealing with.

Sounds awful doesn't it - the facts are what they are. Paramedics don't like it much either, if that helps.

It's a good idea to know what to do when someone is on the floor but not injured - put a blanket on them, give them a pillow and make sure they're in the recovery position if you can. They might be able to get up after the shock has faded. Sleeping on the floor is fine, people all over the world do it every night.

Don't be an insensitive fuckwit, Ethylred. it's too long for an 81 year old, too.

You're right that no-one in your grandfather's circumstances should have to wait this long. But that's not because he should have been prioritised ahead of other severe cases, but because the NHS should be properly funded so that the ambulance service is adequately staffed and doesn't have to wait hours outside A&E to offload people needing care. If we weren't wasting billions of Brexit, perhaps it could be.

on Brexit, not of Brexit.

If you think it will happen again OP, get GF an electric chair - they prevent falls very well.

Oh here we go. Brexit ffs.

I believe they do that in case of any injury or broken bones, they cannot be moved, best to wait for the professionals to assess.

Of course it isn't ideal, but he had someone with him, warmth, and did not present as being in any life threatening or life changing situation. Therefore, limited resources mean that he would not be top of the priority list.
I'm pretty sure he himself would say 'go to the person who is in a life threatening situation' if asked if he felt he should just 'be next' because that is the order the phone calls came in.

Now, if you were asking 'should there be more ambulances / paramedics?' [which of course leads on to the fact that ambulances / paramedics are often unavailable because they are in a queue at A&E, so really the question is, 'Should there be more A&E departments?'
or
'Should there be a separate, combined social care / lifting and reassuring elderly people service on standby throughout the night?'

Then I'd go for a resounding 'yes'.

All you have to do is persuade a political party to promise it, and then persuade a high enough % of the electorate to vote for them.

Your poor Grandfather, OP. You are of course right, at the age of 101 nobody should expect to be on the floor for that long. Did he have the cold before his fall?

Unfortunately all the other posters are spot on too. The operator would have asked a number of questions to assess the severity of the fall; signs of injury, pain, bumped head, consciousness, bleeding, breathing etc. 'Just' being on the floor would have put him in the 'assistance only' category. I've called many ambulances through work and have seen it happen many times before. That said, given his age, I'm very surprised he wasn't taken in to be checked over.

What has worried me of late is the time taken to actually speak to the operator, particularly in serious situations. I've been on hold for several minutes on more than one occasion recently which is terrifying when the situation is life-threatening.

I feel for the ambulance staff too. They must feel awful when they keep someone waiting who needs help. If the two young female paramedics who saw to a 101 year old in a cottage last night are reading - thank you for your kindness. I know the delay was not your fault.

Fluffy - proximity to ambulance station means nothing, they aren't there! Crews are lucky to see their station in a shift because they're out attending calls
Demand has grown insane in the past decade, I saw it from starting work to leaving how much the change was. A decade ago, a stabbing would have everyone
Now, it's an every day occurrence

Last December I waited 14 hours for an ambulance for my dad - he was very ill, had had a fall and we couldn’t get him up. 14 hours.

Pommes - he did have the cold before falling. Maybe he was a bit more unsteady because of it? Also, he was offered a check in hospital but declined. He is fiercely independent. Given that he is already under the weather it is probably best he wasn't exposed to any extra hospital germs.

YANBU in an ideal world but sadly a non life threatening emergency just isn't a priority.

Hope he stays safe. Those alarm systems are a really good invention! Just trying to persuade my relative to get one installed!

I'm afraid this is normal. My uncle has mild dementia and is an alcoholic and has frequent falls. Two hours is actually quite quick.

In an ideal world help would arrive quicker in the real world 2 hours is pretty good . I waited over an hour last year for an ambulance when I was seriously ill and very close to death , and that was with other paramedics ( car based ) in the house ringing their call handler and asking it to a top priority .

Unfortunately just because of his age, doesn't mean he'll be a priority. I dialled 999 for my 8 day old baby who was breathing erratically and waited 30 minutes. This was more life threatening yet still had to wait. They have to prioritise unwell people and your poor GF wasn't sick enough. It's not right but it's the reality of the NHS.

As other people have said it’s not life threatening. The ambulance service is extremely under pressure. They need to prioritise people. It’s fustrating, especially for me as I work for 111. Sometimes I have to send out ambulances even though I know the person doesn’t really need it. But the patient will just accept it just because they don’t want to have to wait in a&e or travel there. It’s just a waste of resources

As we keep voting for a party that wants this country to pay little tax health , schooling to be private issues not the states we will have shit services.

Under the tory government we have lost 3 of our 5 fire stations and they want to close a forth so we will have 5 engines to cover 3 large towns with populations of 150k and a wider area covering 250 sq miles so basically unless your in the town with the remaining fire station you will have 45 mins + just for 1 to reach it simply on travel time.

I assume ambulance services are equally being effected. No money for important essental services but plenty for tax breaks for companies and the rich as well as not needing to close loop holes that means companies like starbucks and amazon pay near 0 tax oh and a massive 1 billion pound bribes to the DUP...

Sorry I forgot to add - Careline. There are usually (it can be area dependent) different levels of Careline that your Grandfather can buy into. It sounds to me like he has the alert package i.e. pulls his pendant and Careline notify his next-of-kin. There is usually also a response package, it does cost more each month but is absolutely worth the money. With the response package Careline will hold keys to your Grandfather's house. The Careline responders are trained to lift safely and have equipment to use if needed. The longest I've known someone to wait Careline responders to be at the scene is about half an hour, and they are usually there within 10 minutes. I would highly recommend.

There are also Telecare falls detectors. Your Grandfather wouldn't even need to pull his alarm, the detectors would flag up when he had been out of bed or his favourite chair for more than a set period of time (parameters are personal to the individual and their usual day-to-day lifestyle) and a Careline operator would call into the house to check the person was well. If the person indicated there had been an accident or their was no response at all, Careline would attend.

Any paramedics that I have met are absolutely fantastic, human beings. They came out to my dh and wouldnt leave until they were absolutely certain that he didnt want to go in to hospital

A few yeaes back I did home care for the elderly. we were always taught to say we were unsure if they had hit their head or hurt their hip otherwise they would be lying there for potentially hours. It is tough!